


shrine to fast goodbyes

by warfare



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-01
Updated: 2008-05-01
Packaged: 2017-10-19 04:44:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/197045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/warfare/pseuds/warfare
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Neither Kanda nor Lavi are as good at cutting their losses as they tell themselves they are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	shrine to fast goodbyes

**Author's Note:**

> Set around the beginning of volume seven-ish, when Lavi and Lenalee have had to leave Allen behind in China.

Kanda's golem vibrates long after the sun has slipped behind the trees; in spite of his hearing, Marie doesn't even stir. Teidoll snores lightly; but then again, Kanda thinks sourly, he's probably faking. To be safe, he takes the golem a few hundred yards away before answering,

"Kanda reporting. What's wrong?"

"Yuu~, that's a really cold way to greet a friend who you haven't heard from in a long time, you know?!" Kanda relaxes slightly upon hearing the familiar lilt of Lavi's voice, though he snaps irritably,

"What time do you think it is?"

"Ah, sorry, boss!" Lavi's voice indicates that he's not sorry in the least. "Guess I forgot about the time difference..." Kanda knows from painful experience that Lavi never, ever forgets anything, so he lets out an annoyed noise deep in his throat and doesn't reply. Lavi seems happy to fill the silence, chirping, "Anyway, we had a brief break from shelling, and thought it'd be nice to hear your voice!!" Kanda can _feel_ the other boy's shit-eating grin from the other side of the communication device, and barks frustratedly in response,

"These are not toys! Don't just call when you feel like it, damn it."

"Mm-hm." A placating noise of agreement, followed by a thoughtful, "You know, Yuu... about that white haired kid. The one with the akuma's curse?"

Kanda can feel himself getting angrier by the second. "The Beansprout? What about him?! You met up with him, right?"

"Yeah, that's the thing..." Lavi's voice is cloudy now. Kanda can hear sloshing water in the background; the other boy is probably on a ship somewhere. Komui'd told Kanda that Lavi's team has been sent out after General Cross, so heaven only knows where their search has taken them. There's a long pause on the other end, as if Lavi's collecting his thoughts. This is a bad sign and Kanda knows it; Lavi never takes more than two seconds to think about what he's going to say, which is why he is constantly getting into trouble. "We met up with him, found two Exorcists, got 'em synched with their Innocence and everything, right..." Of course they have. That stupid beansprout and his hangup over 'people'. Kanda doesn't say anything, fights off shivers as the wind whistles through his coat and looks back over toward the campfire. The General is still snoring noticeably, but Kanda's sure he's rolled over to hear better.

"Good to know that bleeding heart of his is still slowing you all down," Kanda intones sourly, aware that he's being unfair and not caring in the slightest. He's only half-interested in what Lavi is saying, anyway. He's bad at listening to the Junior Bookman on his best days, and it's an unreasonable hour even by Lavi's standards. Did he really just contact Kanda to chat...? "What about Lenalee?"

"Ah, you know, she's been better." Lavi's voice is still clouded; Kanda wonders to himself if there's interference between the two golems.

"Beansprout's fault?"

"In a way..." Lavi sounds doubtful.

"Well, I'm sure she's let him have it, then." Kanda is intimately familiar with Lenalee Lee's reaction to the boys around her being stupid; in fact, it's probably been his favorite part about her since they were children.

"I'm sure she'd like to, boss, but she can't." Lavi sounds like he's finally gotten to his point. "We had to leave Allen in China, actually. Had a bit of a problem finding General Cross; y'know how someone keeps finding the Exorcists?" Kanda's mouth is suddenly dry. He knows quite well, actually. "The guy who'd sold their information, he'd turned to a big monster thing, but Allen thought he was still a person." There's an edge of disbelief that the Junior Bookman can't manage to keep out of his voice as he swallows and continues, "He tried to save 'im." Lavi is silent for a long time before he finishes his story, saying, "Anyway, we had to leave." Can't be helped, the pause at the end of the statement continues, but it's different from the qualified pauses Kanda has heard before from the Junior Bookman.

"Oh, really." Collateral damage, Kanda thinks. It's an inevitability in wartime. Still, thinking about the loss of Allen Walker, Kanda can't help thinking that he'd always known that the beansprout would make Lenalee cry at the rate he was going.

The back of his throat is still inexplicably dry, and his breathing has shallowed for some reason. He reaches into his pocket, pulls a silver button from it, runs his thumb over the name carved into the back.

"Daisya got himself killed in Prague." Kanda hadn't intended to tell Lavi the next time he heard from him; actually, Kanda hadn't really planned on _ever_ telling him. "They hung him upside-down and they took his lungs." There's a long pause on the other end; Lavi is being uncharacteristically quiet. Somewhere in the distance a boat creaks and a bird cries. The sun is coming up, Kanda thinks, and stares up at the blackness stretching for miles above him.

"Oh, really." is the final response.

"Yeah."

A thousand miles away from each other, the two boys sit side-by-side and measure their losses.


End file.
